Taking a break from traveling around to visit gorges to enjoy the Autumn light and foraging for mushrooms. This morning the soft light had illuminated these egg shaped fungus in a bed of clover on the left overs of a tree trunk. I took a series of shots, the compositions compelled me to do so, nature's abstracts once again. You can see the images in color and b&w below.

Taken last week, the Parasol, Macrolepiota procera, needs spenty of air of to grow, usually it is found between the edge of the forest and a field. (However it can be found within the forest but general where there is a small clearing.)  My daughter age 7, find them often, last one was well over 30 cm in width when fully opened.

I have to say I enjoy searching for mushrooms and most of all eating them. The Parasol happens to be a favorite of mine, simple to prepare. The stem is slightly woody and hollow, the trick is to slowly wedge out the stem from the top. Using the stem as a drum stick tap the top of mushroom to expel any debris, no need to clean any further, just fry the top. But remember if you are not sure about the identity of fungus, leave it, plus only eat fresh mushroom (edible ones that is!).

How to photograph close to the ground with a standard tripod.

The image of the Parasols were taken by reversing the centre column of the tripod to get the camera  stable and straight onto the subject at a low level. This is important to give the subject it's full height while keeping the plan of view level to get bring out as much details as possible without needing to use too much depth of field. A zoom lens was also used to blur out the background. The subject was selected, as two items or more of the same thing often strengths a image and draws interest.

Parasol #1 - Taken in the 08:10  n the morning with soft light on the heads and stems of the parasol.

Parasol #2 - Taken in the evening 18:34, see how the shape has changed.

Two day later they had grown to their full size and of course were eaten.

In Color

Clover and Fungus #1	Clover and Fungus #2	Clover and Fungus #3
Clover and Fungus #4	Parasol #1	Parasol #2 Evening

In B&W

Clover and Fungus #1	Clover and Fungus #2	Clover and Fungus #3
Clover and Fungus #4	Parasol #1 Morning	Parasol #2 Evening